What to Know
In case you haven’t been keeping track of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt‘s wild comments to reporters and unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump, her personal life is interesting enough to follow instead. In January 2025, Leavitt married her now-husband, Nicholas Riccio, who is also more than 32 years older than her.
Yeah, that’s her thing, apparently. Marrying the elderly and serving them in the Oval Office.
But it’s OK, because Leavitt also knows how out of pocket it was for her to marry someone older than her parents. In an interview with the New York Post‘s Pod Force One, she shared that she had to have a bit of an awkward conversation with her parents before she formally introduced Riccio to them well before they got married.
Clearly, there are certain conversations that need to be had when your adult child is dating someone old enough to be your peer.
@nypost White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt opened up to Miranda Devine on "Pod Force One" about how she met her husband, who is 32 years her senior. Head to the link in our bio to subscribe.
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Karoline Leavitt admits that her parents were surprised by her and her husband’s age difference…uh, ya think?
Leavitt and Riccio started dating in 2022. At the time, Leavitt was 25 and Riccio was, well, as far away from 25 as you can get without being downright geriatric. Or, around 57.
If you’re keeping track, that’s a 32-year age gap between Leavitt and Riccio. Not only has that fact alone made headlines for the press secretary, but Leavitt was also accused of using Instagram filters to change her husband’s features on social media and make him appear younger.
On Pod Force One, Leavitt admitted that she had to talk to her parents about hers and Riccio’s age gap when they first got together.
“It’s definitely a challenging conversation to have at first,” she said on the podcast.
“But then once they got to know him and saw who he is as a man and his character and how much he adores me, I think it became quite easy for them. And now we’re all friends.”
Well, sure, of course they’re friends. Three of them can take advantage of AARP deals. Leavitt also said that Riccio has a lot of respect for her parents. Despite the apparent happy family they have all created together, Leavitt’s critics are often quick to call out her and her husband’s age gap.
On Instagram, after Leavitt shared the photo that many claimed she edited to smooth out her husband’s face, people commented to poke fun at Leavitt’s “senior citizen husband.”
On another post on Leavitt’s Instagram account, someone commented, “You’re closer in age to your son than your husband. Yeah, that one’s gotta hurt. Apparently, Leavitt is totally comfortable with the age gap, though.
Totally comfortable, and doesn’t feel the need to explain the connection at all. Nope, not at all. I mean, you do you babe, but it’s one thing about Leavitt that no one is going to stop bringing up.
